Yes, airplane mode turns off WiFi.

But if you turn on WiFi without airplane mode, even once, you can never again turn off WiFi (only) via Control Center. You can only "Disconnect".

And if you enter Airplane Mode while disconnected, then exit Airplane Mode, WiFi will not be disconnected, but fully enabled (blue). The only way to keep cellular service and disable WiFi at that point is via settings.

> But if you turn on WiFi without airplane mode, even once, you can never again turn off WiFi (only) via Control Center. You can only "Disconnect".

I think OP means..

You can only disable wifi via control center if you are in airplane mode.

There's no other state (or historical events) that matter.

Apple customers who don't consent to WiFi tracking should not be driven by UX dark patterns to disable cellular service, when there exist distinct iOS buttons in Control Center for cellular and WiFi. Other buttons are on/off, stateless toggle switches.

I completely agree, and as an iPhone user since the first iPhone, I dislike the dark pattern.

However:

> But if you turn on WiFi without airplane mode, even once, you can never again turn off WiFi (only) via Control Center.

I don't think that line meant what you intended it to, so I was just trying to clarify.

Will use an ascii state diagram the next time this comes up :)

Luckily I (and my friends) get so many spam calls I've convinced everyone to contact me via Signal, and can just leave my phone in airplane mode a majority of the time :D

So what is your threat model when this partial state is at play? That you're sending out packets looking for your known APs, which deanonymizes you?

One threat model with partial state is WiFI baseband attacks, of which there have been several public ones in the last few years, affecting iOS and Android devices.

Most of the Tube network (by usage, not by distance) is underground so turning cellular off will save battery as well.